I am so worried that I will end up at a community college

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I am still a freshman in high school, and I believe that I would like to work in the healthcare field. I am worried that I will end up at a community college. For 2nd semester, I had a 3.9 GPA (I am taking PE, a History-equivalent course, Geometry, Chemistry, Spanish 1, and an advanced English course) that I am working on getting back up to a 4.0 by doing Geometry work during quarantine. I am signed up for the AP and Honors courses my school offers for next year, and I intend on taking as many as I can. I live in California, by the way.

My ECs are… alright, I guess. I’m in Black Student Union and I intend on running for a position when quarantine has ended. I’m in a summer program, Girls Inc. I’m in Book Club. I recently completed my UC Berkeley engineering program. I will be shadowing a doctor later on in my high school career, and I will also receive work experience the summer before my junior year of high school.

I’m very worried, however, that I will end up at a community college.

1 Like
2

Take a deep breath. Take another one.

You’re doing great.

Important points:

A. You are a freshman - it’s too early to be freaking out about which college you will attend.

B. You have a 3.9 GPA, which is a great GPA, so there is nothing to worry about. You are in the top 1% of all students.

C. Take as many APs and honors classes as you feel will still allow you to produce quality work. Avoid piling up APs, and then drowning in work. Colleges are not looking for students who take as many APs as they can. There is no benefit in taking more than 10 total, and even 8 are more than enough, so long as you take the most important ones for your interests. This is where you need to speak with your GC to help you plan the best curriculum for you.

D. Avoid taking too many ECs, in too many directions. Focus on two or three which you love and in which you can engage yourself. Again, there is no benefit in doing 25 ECs. figure out the ones you love the most, or about which you feel the most passion, and pour your energy into them.

Don’t choose ECs based on what you think will look good on your resume. Choose ECs based on what you feel you would like to accomplish while in high school. Every one of the ECs that you have has the potential for you to achieve great things, so long as your don’t think of “doign ECs” as your purpose. You purpose should be “learning engineering”, “helping girls be empowered”, “forwarding the interests of Black Students”.

E. Community colleges are great places for many people. They are not Deep Pits Of Despair. Most students who attend community colleges do so because that’s what they can afford, NOT because they are stupid. Many are also unprepared, because the high schools which are available for poor people are so badly funded, that they cannot provide a decent education. However, these are also people who are beating the odds to simply attend college.

Many kids with financial issues also take almost all of their gen-eds and basic requirements at a community college, and transfer to a four year college as Juniors, and graduate with a degree from the four year college.

Do NOT run your entire four years of high school based on a silly fear that all you need to do is slack off for a moment and that will cause you to tumble down into the Abyss Of Horror.

My daughter spent her sophomore year engaged in too much navel gazing, but she is still attending an “Elite” Liberal Arts College. Getting a couple of Bs or even a C will still leave 80% of all colleges out there within your reach. Getting a mix of As and bs and a couple of Cs will still leave you with a GPA which would allow you to be accepted by many great colleges.

So you have nothing to fear. you are far from your worst case scenario and even your worst case scenario isn’t all that bad.

2 Likes
3

I’m struggling to see the concern? A 3.9 GPA is amazing! Also, community colleges are not the end of the world. They’re a great way to save money while earning an education. You’re still a freshman, calm down, and you’ll look at this in 3 years and laugh.

4

I agree with the others. Take some nice deep breaths and chill a bit. By the way, even folks who do start at CColleges can do great and even save a huge bundle of $$$ in the process. My relative chose to start CC after her JR year of HS and taking the GED. She transferred to a great, competitive private U, where she got into her preferred major and got her degree there. I’m sure there are many other great stories of other young people who had different paths to success.

5

Community colleges can be great places to be. Ours is state-of-the-art, has a Promise Scholarship program that allows eligible students to attend free, and offers guaranteed transfers to some highly selective flagship programs or a 3-year BA in business for those who qualify.

That said, you ARE doing great. If you have a 3.9 and do end up in CC after all, it is likely going to be due to your financial situation or by choice. And it will hardly be the end of the world.

Keep doing your best.

6

Thank you for this advice! If I want to go into nursing, what would be my best option?

1 Like
7

What do you mean by “would be my best option?”
If you mean colleges, there are lots of good search engines to help you out.

8

I agree with all that’s been said except for the part about AP classes. There’s no need to take 8 APs!!!

I encourage my kids to take only courses that actually interest them. They have gotten into colleges of their choice, some elite, with two.

If they genuinely want to take an AP class because it interests them, then great. If they find other classes more interesting? So much the better.

I strongly feel that AP classes are not that helpful for real learning as they tend to commodify and standardize learning that deserves better treatment. AP World History is a great example. Kids fly through outrageous amounts of material, memorizing “facts” according to … whom? Why those emphases? Who says those “facts” are even correct many of them? The thing about History and so many other disciplines is that most of these “facts” are debated … long into, well, history. And AP says that it’s a “real college class.” Not in my experience has college resembled anything in an AP class. In college there are differences of opinion, debates, and few if any history classes in college are measured by multiple choice exams.

To my mind it feels like an AP industrial complex. Yes yes yes, I know that the College Board that administers these tests is a “nonprofit” organization–but so was the NBA until quite recently “nonprofit.” Non-profit status does not mean “no profits.” The profits go into the pockets of executives. The AP group purports to “help” students by giving them credit for college–not all AP credit is transferrable and it costs low-income students about $32-$100 per test depending on whether they get a waiver. $32x8 is more than $240 … for low-income students.

For all of these reasons, and for reasons of reducing stress, and for my kids developing trust in their own interests and passions, I urge my kids to take only the classes that really interest them, and many high schools do have far more interesting courses than APs. One of my kids instead of lock-stepping and taking AP whatever one semester took a US Government course that also included economic principles, for example.

Sadly the AP classes have become so dominant in parents’ mindsets that HSs seem to have stopped creating interesting classes like this, and present commodified material instead. And it’s false that every student needs them. The most my kids took was 2 APs and again they got into the colleges of their choice (thus far we’re still working on one) and that included some elite ones. Since GPA is a major indicator of who gets into college, taking classes that truly interest you also will lead to a higher GPA in my opinion.

OP for nursing, some colleges apparently have direct entry into nursing (Drexel I think is one example) while others have a two-year general education program and then entry (Lehman is one I’m pretty sure and Simmons is another–with your high average Simmons should give you lots of merit money; Lehman is a relatively inexpensive college, even for out of state students, and that’s why I listed it. In-state it’s even cheaper.). To locate colleges with nursing, you might want to use the website called COLLEGE NAVIGATOR. It’s set up by the US government and contains information on all colleges. You can use their engine to narrow your college choices by geography, size, major etc. Note also that you can find out the AVERAGE cost for you by going to the college’s page and then clicking on NET PRICE. If you want a better measure of cost to you, then go to the college’s website and run their NET PRICE CALCULATOR. Also please note that in-state PUBLIC schools will cost you differently than out-of-state publics. OOS publics are more expensive usually. Private schools cost the same in-state or OOS, usually. For HS classes for nursing IMO you should take a general program, including the sciences and math. As all careers benefit from your ability to reason, take humanities courses like history and literature. English classes will help your writing, also a good skill regardless of your eventual career. Best of luck to you.

1 Like
9

@Dustyfeathers Nobody here mentioned taking more APs than OP is comfortable with.

And no offense, but a thread for advice-seeking students isn’t the place to spout your personal opinions on the positives/negatives of AP classes and College Board. Especially if the student isn’t asking for it.

10

There are three ways to become a registered nurse with a BSN these days.

The easiest and most direct way is to major in nursing as an undergrad the first time around. You’d need to go to a university that offers a BSN (bachelor’s of science in nursing) program. These usually take four years, and sometimes take five. There are two flavors of these BSN programs. A small number of schools offer direct admission as a freshman (e.g., you’re admitted to the school of nursing when you apply to the college, and you are guaranteed to be a nursing major as long as you keep your grades up). But most make you apply to the nursing school in your sophomore year to start your junior year. In those, you complete pre-nursing prerequisites in your first two years and then start nursing classes in your third year.

The second way is to complete a regular bachelor’s degree (in anything, although a science major makes this easier), then go back to school and get an accelerated second BSN. ABSN programs usually take 14-18 months after your first bachelor’s degree, which adds time and expense to getting your BSN. This route is usually chosen by people who didn’t realize they wanted to be a nurse until after they were already in college, but I’ve known a couple of college students who chose to go this route because they wanted to go to a liberal arts college to undergrad and yet still wanted to be a nurse. If you do this you have to plan your prerequisites carefully, since colleges without nursing programs tend not to have classes like anatomy and physiology.

The third way is to complete a regular bachelor’s degree (in anything, although again, a science major makes this easier) and then go into an entry-to-practice MSN program. Entry-to-practice programs are 3-year programs in which you get your RN in the first year and then your MSN in the last two years, which allows you to practice as a nurse practitioner. This is only a good idea if you know you want to be a nurse practitioner (an NP is a nurse who gives primary care).

Really, if you know you want to be a nurse now, the best way is to go to a college/university that has a nursing undergrad major.

One additional option is to get an Associates degree in nursing from a Community College that has an approved RN program. Those programs are usually competitive for entry, unlike most other community college programs. Often, the community college has a waiting list for nursing and will make you take a number of science classes first to prove that you are capable of handling it, before you are accepted as a nursing major. Your job opportunities will not be as wide as if you have a BSN, but you should still have no problem getting hired. Many of those grads then go onto later get a BSN, while taking classes part-time. Many health care employers will subsidize those classes.

2 Likes
11

Bro, you’re being ridiculous. You’re talking about attending CC like it’s something to be ashamed of, when it’s not. I understand you’re only a freshmen in high school, but in the real world no one cares AT ALL where you went to college. What matters is if you have a degree in your chosen field. Especially if you want to work in healthcare. Unless you want to be a doctor where in that case you have to go to a 4 year university then med school, Community colleges are the best place to be if you want to work in healthcare. I work in healthcare myself as a medsurg tech and I’m also studying at a CC to be a physical therapy assistant. Pretty much all my co workers including nurses went to a community college. It’s more common than you think. It’s cheap, you’ll be done and working with in 2-3 years. If you attend a CC right out of high school, you’ll be working and making big boy money by the time you’re 20-21 years old with (hopefully) little to no debt. Meanwhile, everyone else you know who chose to take the 4 year route will be paying twice as much for classes and graduate with twice the amount of debt with a degree that’s just as good as any degree you could get from a community college. Don’t sweat it! Just keep working hard and trust the process. You’re still super young and you have your whole life ahead of you to complete college, even if you don’t realize it right now.

1 Like
12

You’re seriously putting the cart before the horse. If you have a 3.9, you’re doing GREAT! Where are you getting this information about community college? People go to community college for a lot of reasons, but it’s mostly financial. I started there, and it never hurt my career. The classes are transferable to a 4 year university and you graduate with the exact same degree. Employers and graduate schools don’t even give it a second thought.

That’s assuming you actually go there. If you can afford to go to a 4 year university for all 4 years, then that’s fine too. You just have to look at the money your parents are able to spend for college.

13

My Dd19 took 9 AP’s, plus dual enrollments. The major benefit was starting freshman year with 30 credits. She has to take out some loans, graduating a year early will save money. Ds21 has 4, dd21 has 7. It was completely up to them what classes they took.

14

Sarcasm much?

15

You’re doing amazingly well. Stop freaking out, get off the internet, and try to focus on your schoolwork and ECs, although I know it’s tough, with the pandemic isolation.

Keep doing as well as you are, and you will have LOTS of choices.